The eastern long-fingered bat, or big-footed myotis (''Myotis macrodactylus'') is a species of

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat famili ...

found in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Roosting in caves and rock crevices during the day, it forages at night for insects near rivers and streams.

Taxonomy

The eastern long-fingered bat was described as a new species in 1840 by Dutch zoologist

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch patrician, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. Fro ...

. Temminck placed it in the genus ''

Vespertilio ''Vespertilio'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae. The common name for this family is vesper bats, which is a better-known classification than ''Vespertilio''. They are also known as frosted bats. Species within the genus ''Vesp ...

'', with a scientific name of ''Vespertilio macrodactylus''. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

had been collected in Japan. Some authors previously considered it a subspecies of the long-fingered bat (''Myotis capaccinii''), though it is now widely recognized as a full species. It has three subspecies: *''M. m. continentalis'' Tiunov, 1997 *''M. m. insularis'' Tiunov, 1997 *''M. m. macrodactylus'' (Temminck, 1840)

Biology and ecology

The eastern long-fingered bat is a

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

species, with males and females roosting together in

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

that can number several hundred individuals. Colonies can also include other bat species. They are

seasonal breeder Seasonal breeders are animal species that successfully mate only during certain times of the year. These times of year allow for the optimization of survival of young due to factors such as ambient temperature, food and water availability, and ch ...

s, with the breeding season in the fall. Due to delayed fertilization, pregnancy does not begin until the spring. Females give birth to a single young during June or July. Females become sexually mature shortly before age two, remaining fertile through age fifteen. It is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

, catching its prey in flight ( hawking) or plucking insects from the surface of bodies of water (

gleaning Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest. During harvest, there is food that is left or missed often because it does not meet store standards for uniformity. Sometimes, fields are left because they were not ec ...

Range and habitat

The eastern long-fingered bat is found in

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, including

, and

. Within its range, the eastern long-fingered bat is strongly associated with riparian habitat, as it forages for food over rivers. During the day it roosts in rock crevices, human structures, and caves.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1830718 Mammals of East Asia Mouse-eared bats Bats of Asia Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck Mammals described in 1840 Mammals of Russia